Rick Perry calls for more funds for I-69 project

State transportation officials and advocates stood with Gov. Rick Perry at a news conference Wednesday to tout the early progress in developing the Texas portion of a new interstate highway system while warning that more funding was needed for the $16 billion project to continue.

Supporters of the Interstate 69 project envision it stretching 1,600 miles from South Texas to Michigan and serving as a key trade corridor for truck traffic to and from Mexican and Texan ports while also boosting infrastructure in key regions. In the last year, the federal government has designated portions of U.S. Highway 77 in South Texas and U.S. Highway 59 near Houston as part of I-69. Projects totaling $637 million, coming from state and federal coffers, are currently under way to further expand the highway's footprint in Texas.

“What I-69 does [is] it connects the part of Texas that have not had interstate access, from the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Brownsville, all the way up Corpus [Christi], Houston, East Texas, Lufkin, Nachodoches, up to Texarkana,” Texas Transportation Commissioner Jeff Austin said.

Perry called the project a “vital component” in positioning the state for future economic growth. Yet for the massive project to ever be completed, it will need billions more in funding at a time when the Texas Department of Transportation says it is on the verge of seeing its highway building budget drop severely starting in 2016 unless lawmakers find some new revenue.

More at http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_b3bda654-70ad-11e2-9583-0019bb30f31a.html

[font color=green]Later in the article it stated, "the I-69 project has recently seen a burst of progress, aided in part by a line in a federal transportation funding bill signed by President Obama last year."

Damn socialists!!! [/font]